Algerian Sources: Mending Ties with Morocco Not Possible at Arab Summit

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra gives a joint press conference with the Finnish Foreign Minister (not in picture) during a Nordic-African Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsinki on June 14, 2022. (AFP)
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra gives a joint press conference with the Finnish Foreign Minister (not in picture) during a Nordic-African Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsinki on June 14, 2022. (AFP)
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Algerian Sources: Mending Ties with Morocco Not Possible at Arab Summit

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra gives a joint press conference with the Finnish Foreign Minister (not in picture) during a Nordic-African Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsinki on June 14, 2022. (AFP)
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra gives a joint press conference with the Finnish Foreign Minister (not in picture) during a Nordic-African Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsinki on June 14, 2022. (AFP)

Political sources in Algeria ruled out the possibility of reconciliation between Algeria and Morocco during the upcoming Arab Summit in Algiers.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra discussed with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit the preparations for the summit that is scheduled for November.

Recent media reports had spoken of the the possibility that the ties would be restored during the summit.

Government sources dismissed the reports, saying the ties have deteriorated and it is difficult to imagine restoring them at this time.

Algeria severed ties with Morocco in August, accusing it of supporting two organizations it described as "terrorist" and which it blamed for a series of fires in the Kabylia region last summer.

Ahead of his trip to Algeria, Aboul Gheit told Egyptian media that the Arab League had "no intention" of mediating between the two Maghreb countries.

Aboul Gheit's assistant Hossam Zaki said the organization was not seeking a reconciliation before the summit.

He remarked that the situation is unique and the League will not be interfering unless required, adding there were no plans to postpone the summit.

"Preparations are underway […], and there are some pending issues, especially concerning the situation in Morocco and Algeria," he added, urging "everyone to work to improve the Arab environment."

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said talks between Aboul Gheit and Lamamra addressed all aspects of the arrangements related to the summit and international issues of concern to Arab affairs.

Algeria chose November 1 and 2 to hold the summit, coinciding with the anniversary of its revolution against French colonialism.

It is seeking the return of Syria to the Arab League, calling on the Arab countries to support its position.

Last year, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said: "Syria is supposed to be present at the Arab summit."

After the outbreak of the crisis in Syria in 2011, Algeria was hesitant to freeze Damascus' membership, and it did not recall its ambassador from Damascus.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.